Entering this political season I began with a hope that this year was going to be a different race on the political front and in many ways it is. For the first time we have a diverse candidate, if only in color, running for the presidency of the United States.
In the fight against conventional politics, Barack Obama faces an extreme uphill climb. Not only must he battle John McCain - a well respected figure on both party sides as well as around the globe - he also has to face the media. In fact, the media may be the harder opponent for both candidates because it has almost no accountability for its actions and coverage. McCain has complained recently of not enough media coverage while Obama toured the globe and met world leaders. So unless I am mistaken, McCain challenges Obama to go to Iraq and then complains when he takes all the news coverage with him? McCain should have just bitten his tongue.
On his trip across the Middle East and Europe, Obama took time to sit down and talk to reporters from each of the major news sources. All of the major interviews that he did focused on a few key points and the questions mostly surrounded Middle Eastern issues and justly so. However, to my disappointment, the questioners asked the exact same questions (is the writers' strike still on?) and none of these questions were topics that really highlighted the trip.
None really focused on anything of the major issues but instead focused on small nuances of the trip. The questioners - and Katie Couric in particular - continually pounded Obama on "the surge" and how it should be regarded as a good thing. The surge was in no way a positive move for American politics, Iraq or an end to the war.
The war still has no end in sight, we are still spending close to $1 billion a day in Iraq, we still have not caught Osama Bin Laden and Afghanistan is in a more delicate state. But you're right, we have lessened the number of troops dying daily in Iraq. Iraq is an extremely safe place; we are now only having 265 civilians killed, 102 car bombs and 22 assassination attempts every month, what a success.
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Glad to see there is at least one media outlet in the world thats not giving Obama hell... thanks CT/Logan! Oh, PS --- Obama is getting more media coveraged, how many interviews can you count with McCain in the past month? And with Obama? Where was McCain's convoy of journalists and media when he visited Iraq? Oh PPS/memo to Logan -- The surge did work, you might want to look that up Logan, i dont think it's in the 'Idiot's Guide to the Iraq War' though. It was about more than just adding more troops. It was more about the strategy. It was successful which is why the media is asking Obama about it, because he continues to say it was a bad idea. Oh, PPPS --I agree the polls are useless, but before you try making a generalization about why some people will not vote for Obama because of his skin color try looking at the data. There are also some people who will vote for him for the same reason, do we get to call them black supremacists or ignorant?
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Please. Obama can credit the media for his Democratic candidacy. The liberally biased media have been embroiled in a love affair with him since day 1. Hillary never had a chance b/c it was Obama this, Obama that, Obama is going to give everyone free health care, 401k, whatever they want and change, change, change. The media has totally created the Barack Obama everyone wants to vote for! Smoke and mirrors. Furthermore, "Iraq is an extremely safe place; we are now only having 265 civilians killed, 102 car bombs and 22 assassination attempts every month, what a success." Without even going into the merits of this statement--your grammar? It sucks.
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